Starting a business requires resources and coordination. It is easier for one individual with many resources to get the ball rolling than for many people with few resources to do the same. Even if you need to take out a loan, it’s simpler to do as an individual than as a group. Most people who front at the resources for a business are going to want creative control over the structure and operation, and consequentially to the profit. It’s much easier, logistically, for one person to roll existing capital into a new business than to coordinate a board of founders. Democracies are much slower at making decisions than dictatorships, obviously.

I am 100% pro co-op. I’d love to see credit unions offering start-up loans to groups of founding members, specifically designed to develop co-ops. It’s just currently uncommon, so the infrastructure isn’t there. Without that financial infrastructure, you’re relying in everyone fronting a portion of the start-up funding.

So, in short: it’s more complicated, financially and logistically. I’m all for it, but before we see co-ops carve out a must significant market share, we’ll need to see some chipping away at thesr barriers to entry.